Local News

Thirteen students were taken to Regional General Hospital this morning (Wednesday) after the school bus they were riding in was struck from behind by a pickup truck. Students were reported to have minor injuries.

According to Williston Police Chief Dennis Strow, at 7:36 a.m., the Williston Police Department, Williston Fire Rescue, Marion County Fire Rescue and Levy County Department of Public Safety responded to the 800 block of East Noble Avenue where the accident occurred.

A resident on NE 210 Avenue in East Williston was awakened at 4 a.m. last Sunday by a crashing sound inside his home. He investigated the sound but did not find anything wrong and went back to bed. At approximately 9:30 a.m., he discovered a bullet hole through his front window and called 911.

Deputies discovered someone fired a gun from outside the home. The bullet entered the resident’s north facing window, went through a recliner then lodged in the homeowner’s entertainment center. The bullet was recovered and it appears the weapon is a 9mm handgun.

You won't have to travel far this weekend to participate in outdoor activities.

Williston’s Red White & Blues Farm will celebrate May 6-7 with its first Blueberry Festival.

Scores of vendors, featuring arts, crafts, information and food are expected to be on site at the 100-acre farm during the two-day event that will also showcase blues and jazz music, pony rides, a petting zoo, bungee rides and more for the children in your life.

Two large contributions and a lot of hard work by a few dedicated volunteers have pushed the fund for a Veterans' Memorial past the original goal.

Three years ago, when the Williston Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) first conceived the notion of a memorial, donations were slow to come in and the bricks that honored veterans were only purchased sporadically.

In March, David Wilson, himself a veteran, told the CRA he was "saddened and embarrassed" by the lack of a memorial.

Fed up with the amount of trash that is dotting the city's parks and streets, Tuesday night the city council directed staff to begin a draft of a litter ordinance that carries substantial punitive measures for those who are caught littering.

However, Police Chief Dennis Strow said there is already a state statute that addresses litter and it carries with it a fine and/or jail time. Strow said oftentimes a state statute supersedes a municipal ordinance.

If not yet in full bloom, the economy is certainly growing stronger in the CareerSource Citrus Levy Marion region.

According to today’s employment summary by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), the unemployment rate in March for the CareerSource CLM region was 5.2 percent, down 0.7 percentage point since February and 0.6 percentage point lower than the area’s rate a year ago of 5.8 percent.